mottle

American  

[mot-l] / ˈmɒt l /

verb (used with object)

mottled, mottling

1. to mark or diversify with spots or blotches of a different color or shade.

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noun

1. a diversifying spot or blotch of color.

2. mottled coloring or pattern.

mottle British  

/ ˈmɒtəl /

verb

1. (tr) to colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

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noun

1. a mottled appearance, as of the surface of marble

2. one streak or blotch of colour in a mottled surface

Other Word Forms

• mottlement noun
• mottler noun

Etymology

Origin of mottle

First recorded in 1670–80; probably back formation from motley

Example Sentences

In adults, symptoms can include but are not limited to slurred speech, extreme shivering or muscle pain, severe breathlessness and skin that is mottled or discoloured.

From BBC

In the morning, they passed meadows spotted with purple and red flowers; he saw a group of human-sized creatures, their skin mottled like bark, dancing to a song he could not hear.

From Literature

The edges of the leaf are mottled green, but the center is a brilliant pretty pinkish purple.

From Literature

It wasn’t unlike what she’d worn onstage, the mottled gray complexion, the veins of green, the deep set of her eyes, but what it really looked like was Molly.

From Literature

Skaters say the structure—brutalist water-pumping limbs of mottled white concrete that rise out of the ground near the waterfront—is an icon.

From The Wall Street Journal